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1 – 10 of 609Shweta Pandey, Deepak Chawla, Sandeep Puri and Luz Suplico Jeong
Notwithstanding the novelty and importance of wearable fitness devices, few studies have focussed on comparing the drivers of adoption and usage of wearable fitness in the context…
Abstract
Purpose
Notwithstanding the novelty and importance of wearable fitness devices, few studies have focussed on comparing the drivers of adoption and usage of wearable fitness in the context of developing countries. This study aims to explore factors that drive overall acceptance of wearable fitness devices in developing countries (India and the Philippines) and whether the impact of these factors on the intention to adopt (INT) differs by country and gender.
Design/methodology/approach
The study extends the existing body of knowledge by developing a model that integrates the impact of various perceived benefits (health, autonomy, social, hedonic, symbolic), health self-efficacy (HEALTHSE) and individual characteristics (technological innovativeness [TI]) on the INT wearable fitness devices and the moderating impact of country and gender. The analysis was carried out using partial least square and data of 343 respondents.
Findings
This study finds that the INT wearable fitness devices by consumers in developing countries are positively impacted by hedonic, health and autonomy, HEALTHSE and TI. Symbolic and social factors do not have any significant impact on the overall INT wearable fitness devices. However, there are country and gender-specific differences that are consequential to the development of marketing strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The framework and results are specific to the two countries and limited by convenience sampling. Future research can focus on replication across different countries and extend the model with additional contextual factors such as perceived risks.
Originality/value
To the best knowledge of the authors, this is one of the few studies to examine and compare the drivers of adoption of wearable fitness devices in lesser researched developing countries. Also, it is one of the few studies to compare the moderating impact of country and gender in the context of the INT wearable devices. The study provides a theoretical and methodological foundation for future research, as well as practical implications for global companies developing and promoting wearable fitness devices.
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Prashant Raman and Kumar Aashish
There are two-fold objectives to this research. First is to analyse the importance of technology readiness (TR) for the users in using sports and fitness wearable devices in…
Abstract
Purpose
There are two-fold objectives to this research. First is to analyse the importance of technology readiness (TR) for the users in using sports and fitness wearable devices in India. And second is to explore if gymnasium (gym) users are much more technologically ready as compared to non-gym users to use sports and fitness wearable devices.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses technology readiness and acceptance model (TRAM) to examine the users' intention to use sports and fitness wearable devices. Data from a survey of 907 respondents from India were collected and partial least squares (PLS)-structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was used to empirically examine it.
Findings
The outcomes reveal that innovativeness and optimism have a positive influence on perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU), and insecurity and discomfort have a negative influence on PEOU and PU. Both PEOU and PU act as important determinants in the user's intention to use sports and fitness wearable devices. The multi-group analysis (MGA) suggests that gym users tend to exhibit more positive intention towards using sports and fitness wearable devices and show higher probability of using the wearable devices relative to non-gym users.
Originality/value
There are hardly any studies on intention to use sports and fitness wearable devices in India. The current research tries to understand the intention behind the gym users and non-gym users to use sports and fitness wearable devices. The outcomes of the research will help the marketers to align their promotional campaign based on the new segmentation variable “gym-user/non-gym user”. The research also highlights the importance of TR in the use of sports and fitness wearable devices in India.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors associated with consumer’s intention to adopt wearable technology in healthcare, and to examine the moderating effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors associated with consumer’s intention to adopt wearable technology in healthcare, and to examine the moderating effects of product type on consumer’s adoption intention.
Design/methodology/approach
An integrated acceptance model was developed based on unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2), protection motivation theory (PMT), and privacy calculus theory. The model was tested with 462 respondents using a survey.
Findings
Consumer’s decision to adopt healthcare wearable technology is affected by factors from technology, health, and privacy perspectives. Specially, fitness device users care more about hedonic motivation, functional congruence, social influence, perceived privacy risk, and perceived vulnerability, but medical device users pay more attention to perceived expectancy, self-efficacy, effort expectancy, and perceived severity.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to investigate healthcare wearable device from behavioral perspective. It also helps to comprehensively understand emerging health information technology (HIT) acceptance from technology, health, and privacy perspectives.
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Bushan Mathavan, Ali Vafaei-Zadeh, Haniruzila Hanifah, T. Ramayah and Sherah Kurnia
This paper aims to investigate the key enablers and inhibitors that influence the intention to use fitness wearables using the value-based adoption model (VAM).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the key enablers and inhibitors that influence the intention to use fitness wearables using the value-based adoption model (VAM).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using a structured online questionnaire from 323 respondents who had never used fitness wearables. A purposive sampling technique was used in this study. Smart PLS was employed to test the research framework and hypotheses using a two-step approach.
Findings
The findings support some of the hypotheses developed with R2 values of 0.622 for perceived value (PV) and 0.567 for intention to use fitness wearable. Perceived enjoyment, perceived social image and perceived usefulness had a positive effect on PV. In addition, health information sensitivity (HIS) was positively related to perceived privacy risk and health information accuracy was positively related to perceived usefulness. Surprisingly, this study did not find any significant relationship between perceived fee, perceived privacy risk, perceived health increase and perceived design aesthetics with PV.
Practical implications
This study's findings can help designers and manufacturers design fitness wearables by considering factors that users find valuable, thus satisfying consumers' needs.
Originality/value
This study tries to model behavioural intention of fitness wearable usage of individual users by using the VAM with the addition of two new antecedences, HSI and health information accuracy, to better explain the behaviour.
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This paper aims to analyse the adoption of fitness wearables by using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The study analyses the relative weights and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the adoption of fitness wearables by using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The study analyses the relative weights and causal combinations of antecedent variables on use and intention to use fitness wearables.
Design/methodology/approach
The study design involves two stages: first, from the perspective of variable-oriented analysis, a structural equation model is tested using partial least squares (PLS) technique on a sample of 176 adopters and a second sample of 187 non-adopters. Second, from the perspective of case-oriented analysis, a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) identifies causal combinations of variables that lead to use of wearables by adopters and intention to use by non-adopters.
Findings
PLS results show that performance expectancy and effort expectancy have high net effects on use and intention to use for adopters. FsQCA analysis shows that current users follow a streamlined path to adoption. High beliefs on performance expectancy and effort expectancy are the main influences of intention to use a fitness wearable for non-adopters. In contrast to adopters, non-adopters may follow a number of paths to intention to use through performance expectancy, effort expectancy or facilitating conditions. This insight was apparent only after analysing the data sets by using fsQCA.
Research limitations/implications
For sake of parsimony, this paper tested UTAUT model instead of the more complex unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2.
Practical implications
Marketers in the fitness category can enhance use and intention to use by utilising not one but a combination of causal factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions. Wide societal deployment of wearables depends on performance and expectations.
Social implications
The widespread use of mobile devices depends on performance expectancy and effort expectancy. To transit to a real knowledge economy, co-creation should occur at early stages of product development so that these expectations are shared and better products be developed.
Originality/value
This paper offers a nuanced understanding of fitness wearable adoption by analysing adopters and non-adopters through variable- and case-oriented techniques. It complements the one-linear-path perspective with a number of alternative causal combinations of variables that lead to use and intention to use fitness wearables. While the causal path for adopters is unique, there are a number of causal combinations of antecedents that lead to high intention to use in potential adopters.
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Stefanie Paluch and Sven Tuzovic
Commercial entities (e.g. health and life insurance, airlines and supermarkets) in different countries have recently begun to introduce wearable technology as part of the consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
Commercial entities (e.g. health and life insurance, airlines and supermarkets) in different countries have recently begun to introduce wearable technology as part of the consumer journey and as a means of enhancing the business value chain. While a firm’s decision to adopt such new technologies as wearable devices is often based on financial factors such as return on investment, costs and impact on profits, consumers may hold a different attitude toward the value of using smart wearables and sharing their personal data as part of their business-client relationships. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer perceptions of and reactions to persuaded self-tracking (PST) – a practice in which businesses actively encourage consumers to monitor, collect and share personal biometric data through wearable technologies in exchange for personalized incentives and rewards.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative research approach and a purposeful sampling method, the authors conducted personal in-depth interviews with 24 consumers (both users and non-users of wearable devices). Interviews were recorded and transcribed, resulting in 600 pages of transcripts comprising more than 203,000 words. Data coding and analysis were facilitated by using NVivo.
Findings
Consumers’ assessment of PST is based on perceived value-in-use, privacy/security concerns and perceived fairness/justice, resulting in four types of reactions to adopt or use PST (embracing, considering, debating and avoiding). Specifically, the authors identified two individual determinants (intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation) and four firm-related determinants (design of wearable device, assurance, transparency and controllability) that influence consumer perceptions of PST.
Research limitations/implications
Results of this study have implications for both vendors of wearable devices and firms trying to leverage smart wearables in their value chains. Identifying consumers’ perceptions, as well as barriers and enablers of acceptance, will help firms to more effectively design and develop wearable device-based services, thus gaining consumer support for using fitness trackers. The primary limitation of the study is that using a thematic analysis method diminishes the generalizability of our findings.
Originality/value
This study addresses an under-researched area: the integration of wearable technologies in a firm’s value chain through the lens of the consumers. This study is one of the first, according to authors’ knowledge, to investigate consumer perceptions of PST.
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Sandeep Puri, Shweta Pandey and Deepak Chawla
This paper aims to explore factors impacting wearable fitness tracking (WFT) device continued usage intention from perspectives of technology attributes (autonomy benefits)…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore factors impacting wearable fitness tracking (WFT) device continued usage intention from perspectives of technology attributes (autonomy benefits), health attributes (self-health management benefits, diet-control benefits and health self-efficacy), and consumer attributes (age, gender, technological innovativeness, symbolic benefits, social benefits and hedonic benefits).
Design/methodology/approach
The study integrates constructs from the technology acceptance theories and the health promotion model to develop the research model and hypothesis. The empirical analysis was conducted using data from 217 respondents from India. Logistic regression was used to identify factors that discriminate between groups with low and high continued usage intentions.
Findings
Results indicate higher continued usage intention for WFT devices is driven by perceived benefits-health, autonomy, social and hedonic, and individual characteristics-technological innovativeness and perceived health self-efficacy. Further, perceived symbolic benefits, diet control benefits, age, and gender does not discriminate between the groups with low and high continued usage intentions.
Research limitations/implications
The results may be limited to the context of the sample and the factors considered. The study suggests future research areas.
Practical implications
The paper offers insights for marketers, governments, insurance firms, and related healthcare services on promoting higher usage of WFT devices to yield dual benefits of preventive healthcare and higher profitability.
Originality/value
The study extends existing research by examining factors across consumer, health, and technological domains in a single framework and adds to the limited research in the context of usage of WFT devices in developing countries.
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Nilsah Cavdar Aksoy, Alev Kocak Alan, Ebru Tumer Kabadayi and Alican Aksoy
This study aims to examine the wearable devices market as an essential representative of the digital age using a framework based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the wearable devices market as an essential representative of the digital age using a framework based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and the context of sports wearables.
Design/methodology/approach
411 people, are both users and non-users of this technology were surveyed online, and the obtained data analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results support the effects of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and social influence on attitude toward sports wearables and attitude of usage intention. Further, technophobia moderates the relationship between performance expectancy and attitude. However, a moderating effect of technophobia on the relationship between effort expectancy and attitude was not observed.
Originality/value
Due to innovative technologies in the digital age we live in, the devices we use in everyday life have gained intelligence. As more developments take place, and related products enter the market, understanding how people react to these products becomes an important issue. While investigating this issue in the context of sports wearables in this study, an important psychological construct, technophobia, was included in the research model in order to explore the usage intention of individuals through the effects of psychological constructs, such as paranoia, fear, anxiety, cybernetic revolt and cellphone avoidance, and the strong combination of important constructs of phobia to go against technology.
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Md. Shahinur Rahman, Samir Das, Gazi Md. Shakhawat Hossain and Tajia Tajrin
The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors, which drive teenagers’ behavioural intention to adopt wearable technologies and their behavioural intention to recommend…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors, which drive teenagers’ behavioural intention to adopt wearable technologies and their behavioural intention to recommend others.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes a new adoption model combining two different models including the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and the theory of planned behaviour, which provided relevant contributions for understanding the adoption of wearable technologies. A structural equation modelling approach using analysis of a moment structures 23 software was used to analyse the data collected from 318 respondents.
Findings
Findings of this study reveals that performance expectancy (β = 0.28; t = 2.049), facilitating conditions (β = 0.28; t = 1.989), social influence (β = 0.23; t = 3.150) and attitude (β = 0.18; t = 3.246) have a statistically significant impact on behavioural intention. Additionally, behavioural intention (β = 0.15; t = 2.543) and attitude (β = 0.15; t = 3.261) have a statistically significant impact on intention to recommend others. However, effort expectancy, price value, hedonic motivation and habit did not have a significant influence on behavioural intention.
Practical implications
In this study, the understanding of the determinants contributing to teenagers’ behavioural intention to use wearable technologies and driving their intention to recommend others to adopt these devices will provide insights to practitioners and decision makers to customize the features of wearable devices to promote sustainable use of these technologies.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to investigate wearable technologies from behavioural perspectives especially on teenagers in Bangladesh. Hence, the findings of this study will help to comprehensively explain teenagers’ behavioural intention to adopt wearable technologies and their intention to recommend others.
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